Undertale - Hope of Morning
by An Ordinary Riceball
Summary: Undyne runs into Sans, who is staring out into the abyss. And while at Grillby's she discovers one of his dark secrets. For the most part, Sans doesn't seem care much at all either way and that's the problem. Papyrus and others get involved too. Self-harm, suicidal thoughts. Dark themes. Semi-lack of puns. My first UT Fanfic ever.
1. Chapter 1

_**Story: Hope of Morning**_

 _ **Summary: Undyne runs into Sans, who is staring out into the abyss. And while at Grillby's she discovers one of his dark secrets. For the most part, Sans doesn't seem care much at all either way and that's the problem. Papyrus and others get involved too. Self-harm, suicidal thoughts. Possible light SansxUndyne(depends on reviews).**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale**_

 **THIS IS MY FIRST UNDERTALE FANFIC, SO PLEASE BE NICE AND PATIENT! T-T (I know this probably sucks bad).**

...

Undyne was in Waterfall going through her normal routine of scanning through the trash for spears, and possibly anything else useful, when she noticed a small figure looming out on the waterfall staring out into the abyss. It didn't even take a minute to recognize it as Sans.

Why was he just sitting there? Thanks to Alphys, she knew the dangers of being around there and not being careful. And he seemed to be sitting dangerously close to the edge.

Somewhat hiding her concerns, she approached him. "Hey, punk, what are you doing out here?"

He didn't turn around, but instead continued to stare out into the pure darkness.

"Oh, hey, Undyne." The skeleton replied. His voice was low as if he was forcing himself to speak.

"Hey, I asked what you're doing out here." Undyne repeated when he didn't say anything further. She didn't even bother mentioning his absence regarding his sentry duty.

"Well, I guess you say I've been feeling a little... _down in the dumps_ is all. Heh." Sans attempted to laugh at his joke, but it came out forced and broken. 'Little' was obviously an understatement.

Undyne simply sighed. She never had hated Sans' puns quite as much as Papyrus did, but at points she found them insufferable simply because she hated how he used them at points just to deal with things, instead of actually talking. He would always put others through a repetitive cycle of puns resulting in irritating them and pushing them away, as a result of not wanting actually to discuss his feelings. And when Sans was determined to keep something from you, it was next to impossible to pry it from him, simply because he _couldn't care less_ to talk about it.

"Isn't it kind of dangerous to sit here?" She more stated than asked.

"Yeah, probably." Sans' carefree responce came moments later, as if he already knew but just didn't care to elaborate.

Undyne began to get a queasy feeling in her stomach, as she stared at him, anxiety rising. "You should move back some before you fall or something shouldn't you?"

"Nah, don' feel like it."

Undyne's soul wavered with an uncomfortable feeling as she tried to swallow a lump that she didn't know had formed in her throat. Yet she didn't even know why she was getting all worked up. This was Sans. He wouldn't go and do something stupid, would he? There's no way he would do that to Papyrus and inevitably her, right?

Even so, she couldn't leave him here by himself if there was if there was even the slightest chance he was suicidal.

"Is that what you...want?" She forced herself to ask.

Sans didn't answer.

Undyne gave a sad laugh. "You are contemplating something stupid, after all, aren't you...? Well, you won't be doing anything on my watch! Besides, Papyrus would be hurt, Sans. You know that, right?"

"I know." Sans said listlessly, neither confirming or denying that he had planned to go through with throwing himself off of the waterfall.

"I refuse to let that happen." Undyne continued. "He's so happy, and I can't allow you to take that away from him, so in the mean time, we'll figure this out together. Look at me and let me finish."

Sans looked up at her then. She knew right away that he couldn't refuse because he didn't want to hurt Papyrus either.

"You don't have to answer right now nor talk about it if you don't want to", she said as she kneeled down next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Undyne gave one of her rare soft smiles. "But I'll be here for you all the way, and Papryus too, along with everybody else, so let's go to Grillby's or something for now to get away from here, yeah? I've been craving some of those greasy-as-hell cheese fries for a while now anyway."

Sans looked up at her as if debating whether or not to go, before his trademark smile, which had been for the most part absent until now seemed to return a bit. He looked down one last time, before moving back to get up.

"Welp, you had already got to me on the mention of Papyrus. Just don't tell him about this and I'll be fine. Heh, I do know it's not like I had a choice in the matter anyway though. If I didn't obey you'd probably just use your rights as the leader of the royal guards to force me to instead, am I right?" Sans held his hands up in a carefree but defeated manner. When she opened her mouth to speak, he cut her off looking away. "No need to deny it. Don't worry. I won't judge you or hate you. I wouldn't have enough energy for that if I tried to anyway. Well, I know a shortcut to Grillby's if you're interested."

It was obvious, Sans didn't want to walk longer than he had to with her.

Sans's voice sounded so... _emotionless_. He hadn't really even bothered to make any puns except for the first one when she came across him back at the waterfall. In all honesty, Undyne didn't know how to deal with this Sans, and the anxiety was eating her up. She would only observe him for right now, though she would probably talk to Alphys, who seemed to have quite the knowledge in the psychological department, about it later.

With that thought in mind, the Fish woman couldn't help but wonder what else, besides (obviously) his life Sans had given up on. When was the last time he was truly happy? Ever since she had met him through Papyrus, he had always seemed like he was detached and was possibly even afraid to care about something. Papyrus seemed to be one of the only people that brought him some happiness. Exactly... how close _were_ they?

Right then, she realized that there was a lot that she didn't know about Sans. When she was around him, there was always an... aura of guilt that he always seemed to emitt. So the question was... was there something that had caused him to give up hope and withdrawl himself so much? Why did he seem afraid to let others in? Why did he never talk about himself much?

Knowing him, he probably felt it was simply too much trouble to let others in or even try becuase, for whatever reason he felt it was pointless and that his problems were pointless. Could Sans... have been depressed all this time?

She may have seemed scary, hot-headed, stubborn and some other things, but if there was one thing she was good at, it was reading into certain things and recognizing when something didn't seem right.

Sure, sometimes, she didn't really respond in the correct way to things, but she could still feel when somebody else was in pain, almost to a fault. Yet, she was stubborn she had to admit, (((I bet Alphys has at least once said she is 'Tsundere' lololol))) and because of that, when she had a specific goal in her mind, it could sometimes be very hard to convince her to back down less she kill herself due to her determination level.

However, deep down unknown to many, Undyne had a soft side to her, even though she often had a hard time showing it. And yet, being that way with Sans had somehow came... _natural_. It was like she felt she could just be herself around him. Sans was the most laid back person in the entire underground, so she had no reason to care about keeping up appearances around him, because she knew he couldn't care about such trivial things.

Also, Sans was Papyrus's brother, so she couldn't help but feel some fondness towards him to begin with. She had to admit that his puns and easy going ways honestly did help light up the mood sometimes even though they could be annoying sometimes. Without Sans making jokes, it just seemed... too quiet. Sans's existance helped the monsters around him feel some sense of regulation, and Undyne honestly was no exception to that. So she wanted to get the normal Sans back no matter what it took.

However, it wasn't until they got to Grillby's that she would realize how bad things really were.

Sans had gotten an order of Fries and Undyne had ordered two orders of Cheesy Fries.

Sans wasn't even really eating his, despite the ketchup all over his plate.

"I've said it before, but your cheesy fries are the best, man!" Undyne complimented Grillby.

"Thanks..."

Grillby then looked towards Sans who kept using a fry to play around with his ketchup.

"Is something the matter, Sans? You've not eaten much." Grillby quietly asked Sans.

"'s nothing, Grillbz. Don't worry about it. I'm just not all that hungry is all." Sans waved his hand dismissively, catching the eye of Undyne, though she didn't say anything.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. 'snow problem." Whether he was just slurring or making completely off base pun - though they were in Snowdin and they were talking to somebody made of fire - she didn't know. That's when she noticed something.

"Sans, what are those?" She asked, gesturing to his arm.

"What are wha-?" Sans immediately cut himself off when he saw both Grillby and her trying to get a good look at his arm. He pulled down his sleeve immediately bringing it to his lap. "It's nothing tibia worried about, guys, really, so just leave it abone already. I'm fine, alright?"

"If that's so, why are you getting defensive, huh, nerd?" Undyne moved closer, trying to stay quieter in an attempt keep others from noticing.

"Sans..., have you relapsed?" Grillby asked straightfowardly, but in a soft and patient manner.

Sans looked away, not saying anything.

"Relapsed on what?" Undyne asked, not knowing what they were talking about, but gave up when neither seemed to speak up. "Sans, let me see your arm."

Sans, obviously having no care to put up at fight in the end, let her take his arm do what she wanted. When she rolled up his sleeve discomfort appeared in her features and continued holding his. His Ulna was littered with charred bone, scratches, and mix of blood and dust.

He probably expected her to be disgusted by showing such a weakness of hurting himself, but the most she appeared to being showing was shock.

"Punk, so this is what you've up to? Battling against yourself alone, huh?... That must have been pretty lonely."

When Sans didn't answer, she smiled a bit and pulled him into an embrace from the side. "Well, From now on, you've got me, Sans. We'll find a way to get through this shitty patch together, okay?"

"I'm here too." Said Grillby, nodding. "Take care of yourself, Sans, if not for you then for us. You only have HP, remember?..."

One HP? That caught Undyne's attention immediately, but she would question it later.

"Yeah, I know... Heh. Aren't you going to going to hate me for being weak? How dissapointing."

Though the last part was said with sarcasm, it was obvious there was some feeling behind it.

"You think you're weak...?! Hahah! Actually this proves the opposite. This shows just how strong you are, Sans...!" Sans threw his hoody over his head when he felt a few people's gazes on him. However, thankfully, Undyne lowered her voice then. "I know you well enough to say this. Despite how much you may have wanted to die, no matter how many times you went to stare out at that abyss where I found you earlier, you held out for this long because you didn't want to hurt Papyrus or anybody else that cared... I think that makes you incredibly brave, Sans, because you found a way to hang on. But now, you can rely on _us_ you know? You don't have to tear your bones to pieces anymore. Listen, if you ever feel like hurting yourself, call me or somebody immediately, alright? I don't even care if it's three in the damn morning, got it, punk...?!"

Just tell...

Easier said than done. He did feel some warmth at their words and encouragement, but he knew that in the end it doesn't matter, that _nothing_ matters because it was just going to be reset again.

He gave a small and oh so forced smile. "Yeah, thanks."

It's not just the resets that had caused his depression, but that manwasnot somebody that Sans _needed_ to still think about at the moment, because it was pointless.

"If I start feeling the blues to that degree again, I'll throw you a bone, kay?"

It was a lie, of course.

\- _End of Chapter_

 _ **A/N: I hope this isn't horrible so far. This is my first Undertale fiction, as said before, so I'm quite nervous about posting this(like serious nervous), but I wanted some development between Undyne and Sans.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Story: Hope of Morning, Chapter 2**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Undertale.**_

 _ **A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favs. I've been feeling really self-conscious about posting this, and have kept changing it because I couldn't seem to feel satisfied with it. This is my first gaming fanfiction, as I usually only stick with anime fanfiction, so this is a whole new experience in my austistic world, so please be patient with me? XD;;;**_

 **Also these characters are so hard to write for me since this is my first Undertale fanfic, so I hope I did well enough and am keeping the characters in character.. _._**

 _ **I hope this isn't too bad. I've been kind of depressed myself lately, so try to go easy on me. And I'm not that good with coming up with puns at all, but I tried, so... Please forgive me lol**_

...

"Oh yeah, I was gonna ask something! Sans, why do you only have one HP?

Is that... Is that even okay for monsters to have such a low base stat naturally? That can't be normal?"

"Yeah, typically they don't, but I guess you could say that I'm a sort of... _special case?_ " Sans'sexpression grew dark for a second, before he dismissed the matter. "Heh, it's not like it really matters, either way though, because I sleep a _lot, after all._ "

It _was_ true that sleeping enabled one to rack up hit points above their personal maximum, which would definitely be helpful, yet that didn't help reassure Undyne or Grillby nor narrow down their questions much at all.

"Sans, perhaps constant fatigue could be a possible result of your low HP base level?"

"Who knows? Anything's possible, right? It's not like I really care one way or the other about this, though, tibia honest with ya." Sans shrugged nonchalantly. It was obvious he had no intention of carrying on this conversation longer than necessary.

Undyne was about to say something when Grillby unexpectly scolded Sans, startling even him. "Sans...! This is something you _need_ to care about!"

Sans had jumped ever so slightly at the rare sternness coming from the usually silent or at least soft spoken bartender, smiling nervously, as he attempted to speak to calm Grillby down. He had rarely ever seen Grillby snap at somebody. And it was all the more unsettling because it was _him_ Grillby was fussing at. "Woah, _ch-chill out_ some, Grillbz((pun intended)). I'm-"

"No, enough of your _punny_ business, _Comic Sans_...!"

Needless to say, that silenced Sans _immediately_. Grillby was more _fired up_ than he had ever seen him. (That could have been be a good thing, had it been a different circumstance, by the way, considering that Grillby was actually actually a pretty shy and not really talkative enough.) His flames were all over the place above his head.

Some of the bar members seemed shocked by his outburst as well, as the entire bar had grown silent at this point.

Undyne was looking between them, uncertain on whether to step in or not in this matter.

"Why can't you see that we care about you? You're going to get yourself or somebody else killed one of these days, because you never see a reason to let people in, or even try. You're too apathetic...!"

Sans grew stiff at that, looking away from them, not saying anything to argue back. Grillby noticed the look on Sans face and softened his tone, his posture suddenly reflecting guilt.

 _Well, that was unexpected, but he's right. Actually, I do understand that they care for me. It's just... geez, I'm really not worth all this trouble..._

Sans, for some reason, couldn't help but laugh shakily, as if he were in the mix of breaking down and genuinely laughing.

"Hey, are you okay...?" Undyne asked, awkwardly reaching out and touching his back. "Grillby, you went a bit too far."

"No, it's okay. 'm fine, just a little _rattled_ , heh." Sans tried to say, a few tears falling from his eyes.

Grillby immediately felt horrible at the sight, and felt guilty for saying what he had.

"...Sorry, Sans... I shouldn't have fussed at you... I'm just frustrated is all... If you're not careful, you could die. I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore, Sans, so please... You know you can trust us, right...?"

Sans was silent for a moment, feeling an extreme amount of guilt, because Grillby literally had _no clue how right he was_...

Papyrus and so many others had died so many times all because he had found it completely pointless to say anything to anybody else, feeling as though Frisk would likely just reset anyway if he did. Aside from the promise had made to Toriel. And even when he did try to fight, he himself had been too weak to stop them at the end of their no-mercy routes too many times as well, which had only added to his guilt.

Not to mention that Frisk was still just a child, albeit a terribly disturbed child. That was one thing that he never felt right about. Honestly, he had felt too conflicted by the things around him that he gave up trying. Though his kindness had gotten him killed, he couldn't stand the thought of Papyrus being disappointed in him if he had found out he just killed the child right off the bat or something without giving them a chance, and it's not like killing them would even do any good anyway. As he reminded himself over and over again, the child would just reset over and over again, and if there was anything that Frisk had a possibly unlimited amount of, it was DETERMINATION and persistence and he really didn't want to challenge that, nor was he made for that. More than anything, he was just tired of everything, and would be satisfied if they would just let him and his brother and everybody else make it to the surface and stay there or not come back at all. Not that he really was hoping for that, he had lost the ability to feel hope long ago, but if he was given a choice in the matter, he would honestly choose pacifist Frisk.

It was ironic, though. Despite knowing that Grillby was right, without even knowing how right, it had still kind of hurt to be shouted at by him, who was usually rather quiet no matter the circumstances.

He was used to Papyrus fussing at him, but he had typically just brushed it off because he knew there was only a small level of seriousness, and Papyrus couldn't ever truly get tired of him because he was _Papyrus_ , who never got truly all that mad under any circumstance.

But this had been Grillby, whom he regarded as a friend. He had never seen him show so much expression before, so it had just taken him by surprise was also.

Sans forced himself to smile, trying to regain normal posture, forcing himself to stop crying at once. "Heh, no need to apologize. I'm the one worrying both of you, after all. And putting up with me _can_ be _bone tiring_ , I would know, with how my brother is constantly fussing at me over being a lazybones and stuff. Heh, I guess needed some _sanse_ knocked into me is all. I understand that you guys are just looking out for my wellbeing and all, and I really appreciate it, but I should be okay now. I feel a little better now. I'll be fine for now."

He had to say anything to get out of here as soon as possible, so he wouldn't have to risk a full blown break down.

"But-" Grillby tried to argue back.

Undyne spoke up, once again wrapping an arm around Sans, pulling him close to her. "Hey, I don't really know what all is troubling Sans, Grillby, but I wouldn't worry about him _too_ much. In some ways, beyond his carefree attitude or what one may think of as laziness, Sans is a lot stronger than any of us, so I'm sure he'll be fine. We'll work this out, won't we, nerd?"

Sans was surprised to hear such words of praise come from Undyne, but didn't say anything about it. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Saying anything to satisfy them was the only option he had.

"If you say so, then..." Grillby sighed.

"Hey, I'll keep my eye on him." Undyne gave one of her signature toothy grins.

Suddenly, Sans began snickering. It was truthfully a subconscious reaction to the tension in the room. "Don't you think you should keep that eye on yourself? You wouldn't wanna lose your...pfft _last one,_ would you?"

"Sans, so help me... _Sigh_..." Undyne pulled down Sans's hood and squeezed his skull a bit, before giving in to his antics for once, decidedly pushing him away somewhat hastily and returning to eating her cheesy fries.

Sans looked away again, deep in thought.

 _Although, Apathy... is actually the only feeling I typically feel anymore. For the most part, I just can't find it in myself to be happy or care about much of anything in this world. It's almost as if I even forgot how to care, I have next to no hope, and I gave up trying to find a way to go back in time long ago._

 _Even if I told them about it, nothing I do can-_

"Sans?..." Undyne spoke up, interrupting his thoughts.

 _-possibly change anything._

"What's up?" Sans inquired.

"You okay?" Undyne asked. He wasn't okay, but he knew what she had meant.

 _Because that kid can come back even if I kill them. Over and over again to the point it's just became mentally exhausting. They'll just reset no matter what, so fighting back against this anomaly is completely pointless._

"Um, well, Papyrus has been kind of upset lately about not being able to meet a human and all. I think I'm gonna go on home and give him some company. In about four hours(technically, Frisk _can_ sleep at Toriel's house, and it's unknown how long they actually are alseep for, so please bare with me for the progress of this story), we'll be back on sentry duty, so I might as well get a little rest before then too."

 _After all, only the kid and I will remember it, minus the nightmares so many of us seem to have._

"Right... Well, tell him I said hey, will you?" It was clear in Undyne's expression that she knew there was more bugging him than what he said, but she didn't press the matter any further, which he was grateful for. It was clear that she was trying to give him space.

In truth, however, unbeknownst to Sans, Undyne actually had plans to call Papyrus, because she honestly was worried for Sans, but still wanted to give him at least some space. Aside from that Papyrus deserved to know what his brother wanted to keep from him. At first, she had thought of keeping it from him, but it would have been a lot more traumatizing to find a pile a dust while looking for Sans without knowing why than to find some cuts on his arms.

"Will do." Sans said, as he got up. "Grillbz, can you add the meal to my tab? Undyne's food too. I'm gonna go home and rest."

"Huh? Hell no! I was the one that asked you to come out here in the first place, so I'm gonna cover it, got that?" Undyne demanded. Sans looked over at her for a moment, before giving in, holding up his hands and shrugging.

"...Well, if you insist, I won't stop you, but... you sure that won't be a... _fissue,_ Undyne?" He smiled slightly even though it wasn't really that great of a joke.

Undyne's lip twitched, trying to keep her calm at the innocent teasing. She was ONLY willingly saying this because she was trying to cheer Sans up and be a good and tolerant friend. That was ALL.((Seriously, it's _all_. If you even _dare_ question it, you will be receiving Spearghetti tonight, got that?!)) "' _Sardinely'_ , _Sans_..."

Immediately Sans seemed to choke on something, before snickering for a moment at the realization that _Undyne, of all people,_ had just made a pun.

"Haha... Wow, that wasn't too bad. Well, anyway, See ya."

"Be careful and take care of yourself, Sans." Grillby told him.

"Also, Sans, before you go, look,..." Undyne briefly looked away, a serious but empathetic expression on her face. "I get it that you don't like talking that much... because there are a lot of things I don't like the prospect of talking about either, but sometimes, as much as I hate to admit it, it often helps so much afterwards, erm... even if I feel like it won't. But, like I said before, I will be there to listen even if it's 2 or 3 in the morning. Even if you just need some kind of distraction or something, yeah?"

"Alright...Thanks again. I'll keep that in mind..." Sans said after a moment, not even bothering with a pun.

"Take care of yourself, nerd..." Undyne sighed, a bit sadly, as Sans then left, not even caring to look at the expressions on the faces of the people in the bar around him.

After that, he allowed himself to break down in his workshop, before, thiry minutes later, making his way back around the house to see with Papyrus.

However, when he saw the sight that awaited him at home, Sans wanted to die more than ever.

 _-End of Chapter_

...

 _ **A/N: Next chapter should have Papyrus. Thanks so much to the ones who followed and favorited! I sincerely hope you all will stick with me on this.**_


	3. A N It may be another few days

Just want you guys to know that I have technically completed chapter 3, but I am unsatisfied with it, so I am trying to edit it and change some things around. But I should have it out in the next few days, I'm just having some... difficulties writing Papyrus.

And seeing as most of the reviewers are not wanting Sans to be with Undyne, I probably won't have them together, but there will still be a whole lot of development between them(seeing as there aren't enough fanfictions with development between them), and their relationship will likely end up something like a sister-brother relationship. Hope you guys can be patient with me.


	4. Chapter 3 Part 1

_**Story: Hope of Morning, C**_ _ **hapter 3(part 1 (Please be patient and don't kill me)**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale.**_

 _ **Omg, this is probably terrible. I'm sorry. I really did try my best, but I'm just not meant to write for Papyrus(even though it's not disbelief Papyrus(at least I don't think it is?), something just seems off...)... *sob***_

 _ **The being confident thing is not working at all.**_

 _ **Also, (PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE DRAMA, AS I WILL TAKE THE GASTER BLASTER IDEA OUT) I think that because Sans is so powerful and has some of the abilities he has, he has to remain as composed as possible, because if he becomes too emotional or panics too much, it can affect his magic and cause him to lose control of it, thus possibly resulting in him unintionally seriously hurting himself or somebody else in the process.**_

 _ **I honestly hope I'm not ruining this story...**_

 _ **ALSO, I am so sorry for not posting the whole chapter. I've written too much and mixed up a whole bunch of it. I've been trying to find a job, and a lot of things have been going on, so I haven't been able to focus on this story all that much, or enough to concentrate on what I'm really doing. I will probably edit this all in the future because this is literally terrible in my opinion. Papyrus is, for some reason just so hard for me to write. Guess I'm just meant to be a depressing... person unlike him... lol...**_ though I'm probably an insult to Sans as well...

 _ **Sorry, I'm not having a good month at all. :/**_

 _ **My anxiety is killing me right now.**_

 _ **I'll upload more when I can, but I really hope to hear some reviews or something, including constructive criticism. Please...?**_

...

Papyrus was sitting on the couch, practically sobbing into his hands. Sans, not knowing what was wrong, felt out of place. He didn't like it all when Papyrus cried(though it wasn't very often), because _Papyrus's_ happiness was the source of his(Sans's) very _own_ happiness and practically one of the very few good things in his life. When Papyrus was feeling down, Sans couldn't help but feel like the entire world around him was crumbling, because in so many ways, Papyrus was his pillar of strength, the one thing keeping him going physically and mentally.

Honestly, Sans had always admired, yet envied, Papyrus's ability to stay optimistic and passionate no matter the odds. Despite appearances and their banters, down deep, Sans had always been the more cynical one. Unlike Papyrus, he had given up most of his hope for anything long ago.

He used to look up to his little brother and his reliance on pacifism and belief that everybody must have some good in them, but now... it just felt like an ignorant way of living that resulted in nothing positive. Not that he would ever _dare_ try to take that belief away from Papyrus.

Over time, he'd grown numb to the process of the resets. He'd seen the same things so many times, knowing that there was nothing at all that he could truly do to stop it, that the idea of any possible hope didn't phase him at the slightest.

And knowing that he was also the only one that could remember the resets aside from the kid, he could tell that his purpose was different from the rest of the people's in the Underground.

Karmic Retribution. He was there to judge them. However, he knew that he couldn't truly kill them as they'd only come right back, but he'd felt that maybe he could tick them off, and hold them back long enough to discourage them from coming back to a world that was already worthless as it was. Unfortunately, they had slowly just picked up on his attack routine, and been able to finish him off every time they killed everybody again. He had no clue if the kid truly knew he had memories of the past resets or not, but he didn't really care. He assumed they figured it didn't matter either, because it's not like he really had any real control over what they did anyway.

...

For a while, Sans just silently stood at the door, barely holdly back the temptation to teleport away, not wanting to risk saying the wrong thing and making his brother feel worse than he already was as a result. Thankfully, his moral and brotherly side overpowered him and kept him from doing so, as he swallowed, finally forcing himself to approach.

Whether Papyrus had known the whole time that he was there or not, Sans didn't know, but it wasn't a question he really cared to recieve an answer for, even though he assumed Papyrus had known and had _expected_ him to approach.

"Bro...? What's wrong...? Why are you-?"

"Undyne called me, Sans..."

Papyrus then turned so his eye sockets could meet Sans's. The shorter skeleton brother's posture froze momentarily when he realized what this was about, feeling an extreme sense of guilt engulfing his entire being. He was about to take a step back, when Papyrus quickly stood up, seeming to predict his actions. Reaching out, he grabbed his wrist to stop him in his tracks. Against Sans's wishes, he quickly pulled his jacket sleeve up, causing the smaller skeleton to flinch slightly due to the soreness from his most recent self-inflicted injuries.

Sans had washed the caked on blood and dust off of them since he had left Grillby's, but obviously the bones were still visibly scratched up.

"...Oh my... _God_ , Sans... S-she was right... Why didn't you tell me that you were _feeling this way_...?" Papyrus forced himself to ask, more tears falling, as he tried to find a way to word it without sounding too presumptuous. He didn't know much of anything about this subject, had only heard about it once or twice before in passing conversations, and didn't want to anger or upset Sans, thus he wasn't going to act like he knew something that he didn't. However, there was no way he could stand by and risk allowing him to dust himself, even by accident.

Sans averted his gaze, unable to say anything. Down deep, he was filled with self loathing, sickened by his current position. _H_ _e_ was the older brother, _he_ was supposed to take care of Papyrus, _not_ the other way around. But now that _this_ had happened, Papyrus, being his usual lovable and giving self, would probably feel it was his _obligation_ , "as The Great Papyrus", to look after him, even though he would unknowingly be wasting his time.

At least until the next reset, whenever that might be. Hours? Days? Months? Who knew...?

The silence in the room was eating away at Sans, and he couldn't bare to face him anymore, nor deal with the silence in the room or the desperate expression on Papyrus's face. He turned his head away, unable to bring himself to say anything right away. Papyrus waited, as patient as possible, although refusing to let go of Sans's wrist for fear that if he did, Sans would teleport away and quickly dust himself where nobody could save him in time. At this moment, the knowledge of Sans's naturally low stats honestly scared Papyrus more than it ever had before. Therefore, more than anything else right now, he just wanted him to say _something_ , even if it was a stupid pun, just to offer _some_ sense of regulation.

Why did Sans never seem to want to talk to him about serious matters? Was it his(Papyrus's) fault somehow for not trying hard enough to try to understand his brother, and for not _really_ noticing this until _now_ , when Undyne had to point out to him something that was as clear as day, _after scars had already been carved into Sans's wrist_? How had it not even _dawned_ on him that Sans might sleep so much he was _actually severely depressed and needed support_?

And yet, all he ever did was fuss at Sans for being lazy, nitpick over his tastes, everything he did, and even the way he did them. Above all, he was constantly fussing over his sense of humor, fussing at him for making puns and jokes out of everything, even though joking around might have been the least destructive way he could cope with anything at all; even though that might be one of the only things he ever seemed to truly enjoy. Was it _him_ that had caused Sans to withdrawl so much...?

Sans had never once seemed like the type that would be bothered by such a thing. He was the most carefree and relaxed guy in all of Snowdin, no, _the entire underground_!

When he _did_ get onto Sans about things, Sans never seemed even at the slightest apprehensive around him.

Yet, considering that he hadn't even picked up on Sans's entirely voluntary chipping and tearing up of his own bones - _despite living under the same roof as him of all things_ \- until Undyne, who didn't even know Sans as well as he did, had to bring it to his attention for him to even notice that anything was wrong at all, maybe he didn't know him as well as he thought he did. After all, he had been _completely oblivious_ to Sans's suffering all along.

However, even if _he_ _wasn't_ the source of Sans's anguish, it was still apparent that he was probably hurting himself as a way to cope with something that he didn't 'care to' or found no motivation to let anybody else in on for whatever reason, and _nothing_ explained _what_ that was that Sans was hurting himself over.

...Unless it was, perhaps _somebody_ _else_?...

...Had somebody else _hurt_ his brother?

Was there possibly somebody in the Underground that was causing Sans this much pain? The same question ran through his head again and again, protective brotherly instinct and a certain feeling suddenly burning within him at the thought of even the possibility. He didn't realize it at first, as it was hard to notice, considering the mix of other emotions swarming within him, but soon... he recognized it. It was a feeling that was extremely rare for him to feel; _anger_.

From what Papyrus knew of him, even if Sans was being hurt or messed with by somebody else, he just wasn't the type to burden others with his troubles, instead keeping it between him and troublemaker especially if there was a possibility of others' lives being at risk in some way or another. Sans was the type that, if he felt things were beyond his control, would physically protect himself, but not even bother with defending himself emotionally. He just let things happen and manifest. To top it off, knowing Sans, he probably felt like a _lot_ of things were beyond his control, considering how he seemed to function. Even if he was extremely hurt down deep, he simply wouldn't talk about it, unless he was basically at wit's end, and even what was said then was limited and would only leave others with far more questions, just because it was his nature to keep things to himself.

He was the type that easily seemed insouciant and undismayed to those around him, but was actually more fragile than any of the other monsters. He was somebody that secretly had an unnatural capacity to love and hope, thus kept at a distance because of it.

Papyrus could remember multiple times in the past that he was trying to do nothing more than be serious out of concern for Sans's health, HP level, occasional sleep walking spells, and various other relatively important concerns he had and all Sans could do was joke about it like he hadn't a single care in the world.

And that was the _problem_. His big brother didn't seem to care about much of anythingat _all_ , always remained lackadaisical, disimpassioned and aloof, around practically everybody, especially _him_ (Papyrus). But perhaps it was all just an act that everybody had fallen for; that even Sans himself had started to believe...

And truthfully, it suddenly didn't even matter if Sans cared what he was always saying down deep, because Papyrus would be lying if he said it wasn't frustrating to see Sans be so dismissive over the importance of looking out for himself and his own health.

And that's partially what brought the question back to mind of whether or not somebody was hurting Sans.

He needed to know, more than anything, why Sans didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth. He needed to know why Sans was hurting himself. But he suddenly couldn't bring himself to speak anymore at the thought that somebody was hurting him. The very thought upset him in ways unimaginable, angered him. However, without any proof of anything, he could only direct his anger at himself for not having noticed; for not having been able to prevent whatever it was that was causing his brother so much pain, and for not even _knowing_ what it was that was causing Sans to do this to himself. He had no choice but to put the blame on himself in this case because he didn't want to hurt anybody, even if they were hurting his brother. Surely, if he only knew what was going on, they could work it all out together, even if it wasn't another person behind Sans's problems. After all, violence and anger would certainly only add to their problems. At least that was how Papyrus felt.

Yet, despite coming to that conclusion, Papyrus couldn't relax and the burning feeling in his SOUL only got stronger. He should've noticed that _something_ was wrong with Sans, right? Even though he obviously couldn't read minds, he'd become so obsessed with the idea of capturing a human and joining the royal guard that he'd slowly kind of stopped checking in on and looking out for Sans. Even though Sans was also partially to blame for pushing him away like he had, Papyrus himself had, in a way, got tired of being pushed away, thus simply decided to succumb to the idea that that was just Sans's nature. It was to make things more simple and less awkward between them. Thus, in a way, he'd done something he never would have had it been anybody else. Without even realizing it, he'd _given up_ on Sans _,... hadn't_ he _...?_ Realizing this only now, Papyrus was overcome with underlying sense of guilt. He'd been a _horrible_ brother, and now didn't even know what to say. He looked down covering his face to now hide the tears that had started falling once more. He knew Sans had probably never hated him for anything, and might not be able to even if he tried, but that knowledge only made him feel worse.

He wanted to say something. He _needed_ to, but, still, nothing came out except choked sobs, knowing that he had to gather his thoughts. What if he made things worse?

Not knowing of Papyrus's thought's or feelings, Sans was starting to feel sick and anxious by just standing there. Papyrus's silence had been unbearable for Sans, especially since Papyrus was always the more talkative one. And now that Papyrus had started crying again, he felt abashed, assuming that Papyrus probably felt betrayed, considering that Sans couldn't come up with a satisfiable answer. He couldn't, even though he wanted to. After all, there was no possible excuse for making one's brother hurt to such a degree.

"Sorry, Pap..." was all he could utter underneath his breath, though he doubted Papyrus even heard him. His entire being was consumed with guilt, as his wrist began to _itch_. It took every single bit of his energy to not scratch at it. He _needed_ to get away as soon as possible before he had to go off to do his Sentry Duty. Right now, more than anything, he just wanted to see that dust falling from his bones, and that beautiful crimson leaking out again, especially now, knowing that he deserved it. After everything that had happened in such a short amount of time, he was already craving the oh-so familar feeling of carving into his own bones. He _vehemenently_ needed to regain _some_ bit of control as soon as possible, even if it was just a little, but he didn't want Papyrus to see such a sight. His little brother didn't deserve that.

Yet he didn't feel a single amount of shame for invisioning hurting himself, despite being in the presence of the very person he wanted to protect from all of this more than anybody else. It was true that he hadn't wanted to make Papyrus suffer, but that could have been prevented had Undyne not seen it.

That's when he began to grow slightly irritated at himself, knowing that it was his own fault that Undyne, Grillby and inevitably Papyrus had found out. He should have been more careful, and shouldn't have said a single thing about how he was feeling. He should have lied to Undyne and defended himself. He could have easily convinced her that he wasn't thinking about dusting himself even though it was probably impossible for him to truly die. So why didn't he? Because he hadn't expected her to be so observant and react in such a way? No, he actually knew Undyne rather well, better than some, and knew full well that she wasn't by any means oblivious to her surroundings nor other's moods. So what _did_ he expect by not arguing his case?

He supposed it didn't matter.

After all, all he knew was that he would just have to be more careful from now on. In any resets after this, He'd just have to start chipping his legs instead of his arms, where his shorts could cover it.

But, in the meantime, there was a high chance that Undyne and Papyrus and anybody else that just so happened to get involved might not even feel 'safe' or 'comfortable' allowing him to be by himself any time soon, much to his dismay. How troublesome.

Suddenly, the other's grip on Sans's wrist began to tighten, snapping him out of his thoughts. Feeling uncomfortable, he spoke to get his brother's attention, to inquire what he was thinking.

"Papyrus, you're squeezin... kinda hard... aren'tcha...? Somethin' wrong...?"

...

Hearing Sans's voice, said skeleton felt a wave of guilt engulf his soul when he realized what he was doing and quickly loosened his grip, though still not fully letting go.

His suddenly feelings of frustration disappeared instantly, and he felt ashamed.

"Sorry," he choked out. "I got... lost in thought... And I should be asking you that, Sans..."

What was he doing? If he had squeezed much harder, he could have...

"It's okay, bro. I forgive ya. And yeah, 'm fine." Sans said, shrugging. "Anyway, can you... um... let me go now? This is kind of uncomfortable..."

Papyrus swallowed. The truth was he _wanted_ to let go and make the situation more comfortable for both of them, and to give Sans his space, but for all he knew, Sans could be thinking of a way to kill himself at this exact moment. If he let go...

 _"I found him sitting near the abyss over in Waterfall."_ Undyne had told him.

 _"He didn't really give me much of an answer as to why he was there, just said that he was feeling 'down in the dumps'. And coming from Sans, well, that could mean a lot of things... T_ _o top it off, he seemed a little too nonchalant about the idea of falling into the abyss when I mentioned it. Even though he's normally dispondant, that's simply not normal for anybody...! He actually seemed like he was considering it, and didn't even deny it when I suggested that he was..._ _I'm seriously worried about him, Paps... He could be suicidal."_

 _He could be suicidal..._

Those words really haunted Papyrus. Truthfully, he had never been able to truly tell what Sans was thinking a lot of times, because he typically seemed so relaxed and didn't allow his facial expressions to show much, as he was an expert at hiding things, an excellent actor, no matter the situation. And knowing that really scared Papyrus more than it ever had before.

 _He could be suicidal._

"Papyrus?" Sans knocked him out of his thoughts again. "I asked you to let go of my wrist."

"No, I can't..."

"Huh...?"

"...Do not get me wrong, Sans. I want to, but I am afraid that if I... _did_ ,... you wouldn't...um... be here anymore...?" Papyrus more inquired than stated, hoping that Sans would try to deny it. He didn't outright mention the other suspicions he had at the moment because he didn't want to sound scrutinizing. He had stopped crying.

At hearing the accusation, though unaware of Papyrus's other worries. Sans momentarily froze up, feeling sick to his stomach. His face burned in shame, because he _had_ been planning to teleport away, despite his previous decision to try and stay for Papyrus. However, he quickly regained his composure, playing it off as cooly as possible, shrugging nonchalantly with a smile, still unable to deny it. "...Wow, you got me, bro... You're pretty good at that, huh? I guess you really... _saw right through me.._."

However, when Sans gave his trademark toothy grin, Papyrus didn't even scold him, much to his chagrin. Instead, the other had a hurt look on his face.

"...Why?" Tears once again brimmed at the edges of his little brother's eye sockets. When he was still a babybones, Papyrus used to cry a lot, but at some point he'd started trying to hide it more and more. But now, he wasn't making a single attempt to do so, which would have normally been slightly easier to deal with for Sans, had it been any other reason Papyrus was crying. But knowing that he himself was the cause, Sans couldn't didn't know what to do and couldn't bring himself to say anything. After all, him being there was surely making things worse, but since Papyrus really wanted him to be there, he decidely just listened to what Papyrus had to say.

"Why do you always do that...?!" Papyrus cried out, frustrated. "Why does everything have to be so difficult to deal with you? I want _nothing more than to help you_ , but you won't talk to me at all..."

Sans ever so slightly sighed at him. Needless to say, the 'difficult' part honestly kind of hurt, but he knew that Papyrus was just frustrated, as was he.

Still...

 _Geez,_ Undyne _, you_ really _have a_ knack _for getting people worked up over nothing,_ don'tcha?

"I'm not usually that talkative of a guy anyway... You should know that better than anyone, Bro..." Sans said, his expression turning dark but for only a second, before he smiled again, winking, just to be sardonic and play with Papyrus a little, though partly as a response to the stress he was feeling. "But, well, look at the brightside, I am talking to you _now_ , aren't I...?"

Honestly was probably one of the worst things he could have done said in this case. Even his tone had sounded bitter and sarcastic, like he was trying to throw Papyrus's concern right back in his face.

And for Papyrus, that was the last straw.

"Sans..." Papyrus breathed out, feeling more drained than ever, before asking a question that he wanted to doubt before, but wasn't so sure of now. "...Is this... _my_ fault in some way that I don't know of...? Are you... _mad at me_?"

Sans felt sick suddenly. What the hell had he done...? He had been so stressed that he had bitterly mocked Papyrus. What was he supposed to think?

"Or have I done something to make you-?" Papyrus began to ask, but, for the first time since getting home, Sans's emotions got the best of him. He grew extremely irritated at himself again for making his brother feel that way. However, he knew he had to fix this. In an instant, his mood changed and he became nothing but serious, cutting the other off before he could finish. He refused to allow Papyrus to even _dare_ suggest such a thing. For just a mere few seconds, he crumbled to the pressure of both of the other's stress and his own.

"No, no, no, of course not...!" He assured him defensively. "It's not your fault _at all_. _None_ of it was...! So don't...say that..."

He had trailed off, turning away, when he realized he had definitely said way too much already. He was originally just planning to prove his point, but apparently instead got carried away.

And Papyrus then realized that even though he himself probably wasn't to blame for Sans's behavior, he was still somehow connected to whatever was troubling Sans.

"...'It'? What are you talking about?" He asked softly.

"...'s nothin important... Just forget I said anything, kay?" Sans muttered in response. He immediately wished that Papyrus would stop asking questions. Unfortunately for him, at times, Papyrus was simply too persistent for his own good.

"Sans..."

And _sometimes_ , his guesses on what Sans was thinking, just so happened to be _eerily_ spot-on.

"Is there somebody that has... _hurt_ you?"

"...Let go of me, Papyrus..." Sans muttered defensively with a great amount self-reproach, and anxiety. He didn't want to answer Papyrus. He didn't want to talk any more _at all_.

 _I don't want to be here._

He needed to get away. To _curb his craving_.

"What is it that happened, Sans...?" Papyrus asked.

He need to get away.

Couldn't Papyrus just see that he just didn't want to talk about it; that all he _wanted_ was the same thing he _needed_ , and what he _ **needed**_ was his _ **RELEASE**_ _._

"I said to _**let go of me**_...!" Sans ever so slightly hissed, trying to pull his wrist out of Papyrus's grip. Any light in his eye sockets completely disappeared in an instant, and his expression grew dark as he tried to pull away and pry Papyrus's fingers away from his wrist, trying his best to resist using other means of escape. However, it was a little known fact that Papyrus was physically stronger than Sans if they weren't comparing certain special abilities. So Papyrus easily kept a hold of him.

"I c-can't...! Sans, please, you have to try to calm down...! I believe you're just confused about what you want at the moment." Papyrus pled, placing his free hand on Sans's shoulder, trying his hardest to reason with him and get him to calm down. However, Sans would hear none of that and only flinched at the physical contact, trying to pull away even harder. He was starting to panic, breathing heavily and unsteadily. He obviously was not fully aware of what he was doing anymore, or at least not in the right state of mind at the moment, but he was obviously beginning to sweat, nervous, and unsteady, as he shifted on his feet.

"... **B** **ack off... I** _ **mean**_ **it.** _ **I just want to leave**_ **!** _ **So just let me go!**_ " Sans shouted at him, trying to pull back. He seeming to be looking _through_ Papyrus, rather than _at_ him, tears flowing from his eye sockets. His whole figure was trembling.

Suddenly, a Gaster Blaster had formed behind him. Whether Sans knew that the blaster was there or not Papyrus couldn't tell, but he could assume Sans didn't. Sometimes, he had to admit that they almost seemed to be an extension of Sans repressed emotions, but yet practically appeared to have a mind of their own at points.

Had it been anybody else, they would assume that, in his current state of mind, Sans was only seeing Papyrus as an obstacle that was keeping him from doing what he felt he 'needed to do'.

However, Papyrus didn't take it that way for even an instant. He knew all too well that Sans would never intentionally hurt him no matter the reason.

Even though Sans was obviously panicking, Papyrus figured he was still probably telling him to back away as a reflection on himself. Knowing Sans... he probably didn't even trust himself, much less anybody else at the moment.

But... maybe he didn't even _know_ how to trust somebody or had lost his trust in others at some point?

It had always seemed like he was emitting awkward, perhaps even guilty, vibes when around others, like he just... didn't feel that he belonged, and never participated in most things when others did, as if he was intentionally detaching himself. He had no idea why Sans would feel that way, but he wanted to let Sans know just how appreciated and loved he was. He looked like somebody that had been alone and emotionally detatched from others, for a very long time. Even if that was just how Sans functioned and felt most comfortable, _nobody_ deserved to suffer to this extent by themself, no matter _who or what_ they were.

Then again, others had said before that he had a bit too much of an "overactive imagination", so maybe things were a little more simple than they seemed...? Either way, Papyrus still refused to allow Sans to suffer alone. He wouldn't give up on him.

In so many ways, it could be said that the taller skeleton showed more BRAVERY than any other monster in the entire UNDERGROUND.

Yet, even so, he wasn't a fool. He did still know Sans better than some, from so many years of living with and observing him as they grew up together, and most importantly because they were brothers.

So, even though he might regret it later if it upset Sans more, he hoped more than anything what he was about to say might help Sans feel better. And he had a hard time thinking that it wouldn't, because he was The Great Papyrus after all, and making people feel better was part of his job as such.

"Sans," he swallowed, neither edging closer nor farther away as not to upset Sans. " _tibia_ honest,..."

The pun was only there catch to catch Sans's attention, to let him know he meant no harm, but Sans still wasn't really all that calm. Papyrus slightly turned his head away, nervously averting his gaze. He had to keep calm now for Sans, and be the strong figure that the latter was familiar with. He had to stay composed for the both of them, to hopefully keep their house in one piece as well.

With that resolve in mind, he coninued, his voice less choked than before and more straight forward.

"I would be lying if I said I understand how you're feeling right now, since, well, you haven't told me much of anything at all about what's going on, but fear not, brother, for it just so happens, that I, The Great Papyrus, am an expert at reading between the lines. And as such,... I believe I may be starting to realize why you don't ever want to be serious with me about serious matters."

Chapter Part 1 end.

 _ **A/N: I hope this is not the worst thing ever, I cut it off at the point I'm at least somewhat satisfied with for now.**_


	5. Chapter 3 Part 2

_**Story: Hope of Morning, Chapter 3 Part 2**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale.**_

 _ **Note: Y'all are right. I really need to chill with the worries. I'll try not to, but this is also my first Undertale and Game fanfiction, so... It's kind of a new experience and I'm anxious and stuff.**_

 _ **I may end up eventually changing some minor events and stuff though one day, because I feel like this fanfiction could be better.**_

 _ **Also, warning in chapter for one slightly inappropriate joke(I hope it doesn't seem too ooc).**_ _ **lmao I'll change it if y'all don't like it or something, but... I mean... I don't entirely see Sans being a stickler for 'manners', being the one who did use a woopie cushion for a prank and stuff. He probs at least has SOME mild dirty humor up his sleeve. :P**_

 _ **Also, something I've been thinking about... Sure, Sans can be really defensive over Papyrus and stuff at times, but he does let the human go on a date with him, even though Sans is probably smart enough to know about dating at the very least. I admit that over protective Sans is a semi-kink for me, but I honestly believe that as long as it's something Papyrus really wants, Sans could never bring himself to get in the way of it. And Papyrus isn't stupid, he knew that he needed lips to kiss, not to mention what a kiss is. I'm preeeety sure he knows a little more. Sure, he's not experienced in dating and stuff, but he still knows something. (Not that I'm saying Sans is anymore personally experienced in dating or anything, though. Just a random thought...**_

 _ **And thanks so much for the idea, Arctic Fox(Guest)! I may or may not use it for the Flowey resets yet, as I definitely think it has potential! (Haha Flowey said that Sans caused him a his fair share of resets in the past, so I think possibilities for the future ideas would be nice to explore. Personally, I kind of like the idea of Sans showing a semi-unstable side of himself to Flowey and and even him being taken aback by it.**_

 _ **And thanks so much to everybody else's support as well!**_

 _ **Papyrus's naivety and "innocent narcissism" is just a concept that's very hard for me to write for without it seeming too exaggerated. Plus, I'm honestly trying my hardest to write their relationship without it being... *cough* too touchy and close.**_

 _ **I don't really like how this chapter ended per say, but honestly bonding doesn't happen over night... I mean it can some, but there is more than likely going to be some conflict and stuff.**_

...

Sans grew slightly tense as if expecting Papyrus to actually read his mind. However, before he could say anything, Papyrus had already continued. "You're probably not used to relying on others, so it may be hard for you to understand why everybody is wanting you to let them in, and you may not even know what to say. But it's okay! Because _I, The Great Papyrus,_ am here now to help solve this conundrum with you so won't have to be alone anymore. You know that you can... rely on me, _right_ , Sans?"

At hearing that, Sans just stared for a second, tears still streaming down his cheek bones, before he looked down, pulling his hood up. Papyrus had always regrettably been a bit too persistent for Sans's liking, especially in cases like this.

"...Yeah,... 'course I do... but, I'll be fine, _okay_...? I'd only bea _brother_ to you, anyway... _heheheh_..." he let out a broken laugh at his terrible pun, flashing a pained smile. Part of Sans's face was now shadowed by his hood now, as simply he held it there.

As the older brother, Sans did feel an extreme amount of emotional responsibility.

And it was _frustrating_. Papyrus, his _baby brother,_ deserved to stay as innocent as possible. He didn't need know about the resets, nor the many times he had died due to what he believed.

Nobody needed to know that Sans often had varied periods of anxiety-induced depersonalization where things around him just didn't feel _real_ anymore; times where he became detached from and numb to everything and everyone around him except physical pain.

And above all, nobody needed to know that they _simply weren't meant_ to stay on the surface forever, even when they _did_ make there, because the kid would just RESET in the end - they always did.

And yet here he was, unnecessarily getting Papyrus, Grillby and Undyne involved.

Well, he supposed it wasn't like this was the _first time_ he'd made a relatively huge mistake when it came to friends and family.

"No, you are wrong, Brother..." Papyrus spoke loudly, somewhat startling Sans. Sans looked up somewhat. "While, for once, I am happy to hear your puns again, I'm going to correct your self-deprecation nonetheless. You are _never_ , and _will_ never be a bother of any sort to me or any of our friends, _only_ a brother, and _my_ only brother, which, by default, _also_ makes you my _greatest_ brother! Nyeheheh..." Papyrus smiled ever so slightly for the first time since Sans had arrived.

At hearing that, Sans couldn't help but laugh a little, undeniably slightly happy to know that Papyrus was smiling and laughing as well. And even though the anxiety still _just wouldn't leave him alone for even a moment,_ he, for some reason unknown, felt compelled to think that, _just maybe_ , it had eased up for at least a second or two there. "Thanks, bro, but I'm nowhere near as 'great' as you, and, anyway, I was just joking,..."

"You could have fooled a child, but you can't fool me, Sans!" Papyrus said.

Sans involentarily flinched at the "fooled a child" part, thinking of Frisk, and further more how he himself _had_ been fooling both of them, albeit in different ways.

"...It may have been _"just a joke"_ to _you_ , but I will have you know that that was terrible to _me_ because I know that a part of you _meant it_." Papyrus told him.

"Hey, everybody has their tastes... You may not like them, and I can respect that, but... I'll bet that some of my jokes you call "terrible" would be sure to give at least a _few_ monsters out there... a _boner_..." Sans sniggered, feigning nonchalance and trying to deflect the conversation by speaking somewhat off topic.

"...Oh my God... _That was asstrocious,_ _Sans_...!" Papyrus whined, accidently slurring the word 'atrocious' in the process.

"Hey,... _language_ , little bro." Sans scolded teasingly, and not seriously, even though he was trying to tolerate Papyrus's _lack_ of tolerance for his puns. " _Wow_ , though. I always knew you had it in you..."

Sans's last sentence truthfully could have been referring to two things - namely the fact that Papyrus was kind of a stickler for appropriate, and _not_ using profanity, but Papyrus naturally took his suggestion in referrence to the pun, somehow or another.

"No, that was a not-Papyrus-at-alljoke, _Sans!_ Thus I didn't...it-" Papyrus sputtered, before giving up and pushing Sans back a little, unconsciously letting go off any hold he had on Sans. He slightly glared, hitting the air with his hand. "NEVERMIND THE EXPLANATION...! STOP ROPING ME IN WITH YOU AND YOUR STUPID PUNS AND DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT AGAIN! I was trying to be serious!"

Due to his own anxiety that was still nearing it's peak, Sans couldn't help but inwardly flinch a little at his brother's body language and voice, unable to fully grasp that Papyrus wasn't trying to hurt him with words, even if he consciously understood. If it had been any other time, it wouldn't have bothered him at all, but right now, he had already reached his stress limit, so hearing his brother talk badly about the one thing that had always managed to help him at least a little - even if in a joking manner, honestly upset him, especially since this was the person he admired more than anybody else in so many ways. He averted his gaze to the side, and shrugged with a small sigh. "I already told you that I'm not one for talking, didn't I...?"

His voice was quiet and not much higher than a whisper. He glared for a second, before his expression suddenly became unreadable.

"Sans-" Papyrus tried to say, feeling sorry for shouting at him, knowing somewhat of his state of mind, but before he could say what he wanted to, Sans continued.

"Sorry, it's not your fault, so I shouldn't be fussing at you... _I'm_ the one with the problem... I'm the one that's never been good at opening up to others about my personal feelings and stuff to begin with..." He said, his tone of voice eerily back to normal, as if Papyrus hadn't uttered a sound, before looking down, letting his hood shadow his face.

"Sans..." Papyrus tried again, to no avail.

"But..." Sans gazed to his side. " _tibia honest with you_ ,...comedy is basically all I have, bro, aside from this..."

He gestured to his own arms, more specifically, the ridged scratches on them, worrying Papyrus as he touched them. Sans didn't scratch at them, though, but he did start to rub at them, not making Papyrus feel any less discomforted.

"What can I say...? It's... _in my bones..."_

"Sans, I didn't know you felt that way and I'm sorry..." Papyrus said softly, but still somehow firmly. Suddenly, Sans froze, when Papyrus, pulled him into an embrace. This time, Sans didn't pull away.

In fact, Sans didn't respond at all to the embrace, because, in reality, a part of him didn't feel _anything at all_ rightnow. A smaller part of him wanted more than anything to at least say _something_ , to offer _some kind of explanation_ , but not a single word would form. So, instead, he just stood there, numbly rubbing at his injuries, as Papyrus continued.

"I shouldn't have raised my voice at you, or tried to force you talk about something you didn't want to. I don't know what's going on or what's causing so much pain, but I won't press it any further for now, Brother. Still... we have Undyne and Grillby, Mr. Gerson and basically everybody in the entire UNDERGROUND as our friend, Sans, so I'm sure we can work through this together, if we all just try..."

Sans grew tense.

"That way,... you won't hate yourself anymore..." Papyrus told him, completely breaking through Sans's emotional defenses. How did Papyrus always manage to do that? Why did it have to be _him_ that Undyne had called?

"...Heh, I've never said anything about it, but I really wish I could be optimistic about things like you and Undyne, you know...?" Sans muttered.

Papyrus didn't know what to say, and didn't want to sound insensitive by bragging about how easy it was, because it obviously wasn't easy _at all_ to his older brother.

Sans had to pull away. He couldn't allow himself to grow attached to anything in this timeline anymore than he already had. Otherwise, it would all just hurt worse when it was ripped away from him. In fact, Temporarily dying had proven to be more satisfying than that.

"...sorry." Sans choked out.

"What are you apologizing for?" Papyrus asked, confused and distraught. But when Sans didn't answer, he continued. "Brother, I... Since you don't want to talk, I will tell you about some of my own feelings, okay? Even though I am very great, there have been quite a few periods of my life that... _haven't_ been so great. Even when I get depressed over not being able to have seen a human yet, or even when my puzzles fail or when I decided I wanted to become a member of the Royal Guard, not that I don't think I won't or anything because it is something I am very obviously confident about, STILL, no matter what, you were always there to support me when nobody else would. And even when nobody else could come to my party eight years ago the ones I invited were out sick with the flu, you still pushed yourself to stay there for me and protected me from getting sick, before rearranging another party the next day where the entire Underground came..."

((sneaky Sans and sweet naive Papyrus. I came up with that last idea.))

"That's why, even though I don't know what is going on, I want to help you, just as you have always been there to help and encourage me, You're the one that taught me how great I am, Sans... so I want you to feel the same..."

"...no..." Sans shook his head. "You don't owe me anything. Don'tcha know that's what family is for? I did all of that because I wanted to, not because I wanted you to pay me back."

"I know," Papyrus nodded. "And that's _coincidentally_ the same reason I want to do it for you."

"Hey, you worry too much, bro. Well, _patella_ the truth, you're...too soft and kind _for your own bones_..." Sans murmured. "This... it...um... may be hard for you to understand, and, god I'm so sorry for putting you through all this because I know it's not fair you at all, but... I... _look, Papyrus_... _Sometimes, just plain kindness isn't enough..._ So, seriously... there's really nothing at all you can do to help me at this point... But, no matter what happens, it's not your fault." Tears gathered again in the edges of his eye sockets, as he choked out one last thing before teleporting away, along with the blaster that Papyrus still doubted Sans even consciously knew was there:

"I love ya, bro... Sorry."

Papyrus would have reached out, to stop him from leaving, and wanted to more than anything, but at the last moment, Sans... He had used his blue attack to push his own brother away. Papyrus broke down crying again, as he fell to the floor.

 _"...Sans... Why won't you just let others in...?"_

 _ **A/N: I'll post more soon. I'm still so busy. I'm sorry if it's horrible. ;-;**_


	6. Chapter 4 Part 1

_**Story: Hope of Morning, Chapter 4**_  
 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Undertale.**_

 _ **A/N: I'm sorry it has been so long. My ADHD and Anxiety/Depression has been making it impossible for me to stick with anything lately and then I keep adding more stories to my list to finish, so I repeatedly end up overwhelming myself even more. Not to mention a lot of other things have been going on. I just want you all to know that I've not given up on this story, it just may be a while before I update again. (Also, this chapter is taking place some time in between Sans' talk with Papyrus.) This section feels rushed, but I didn't know what else to right, circumstances considered. I may come back and edit this at some point.**_

* * *

"U-Undyne?"

"Hey, Alphys, I hope you're not busy!..." Undyne scratched the back of her head, smiling awkwardly, before her face turned a bit more serious. "I need to talk with you about something... It's really important. Can I come in?"

Alphys had been kind of busy keeping an eye on her camera in case a human came by, but it was nothing that would stop Alphys from listening to her friend. At firsrt Alphys, had got the idea it had been a love confession Undyne wanted to talk about. So, she was undoubtebly blushing at the thought of it, though it wasn't that noticable.

"O-oh, um... sure." Alphys stepped back so Undyne could step in. "What is it you need to talk about?"

"Well, it's about a friend of mine... They're really depressed..." Undyne felt awkward saying this, but forced herself to trust Undyne with such a tocuhy thing. In fact, Alphys probably had more experience with Anxiety than anybody she knew, so going to her had probably been the best course of action. "And they've been hurting themself. Do you have any clue as to how to help a self-harmer? I let their family know, and I told them I'd be there for them to listen if they felt like doing it again, but I don't know what to do beyond that, and I'm so worried right now. What if he accidentally dusts himself or something?!"

Undyne scolded herself for letting Sans's gender out, but sighed, her whole being shaking as worry for her friend continued consuming her.

Alphys was a bit startled when her reasoning for being here came out, but she grew serious, not able to stand seeing Undyne so worked up.

"Undyne, I kn-know this isn't easy to deal with, b-but you've gotta c-calm down, because getting upset w-won't help anything...!" She told her. Undyne's eyes widened a bit.

"...You're right... I'm sorry..."

"No, you don't need to apologize. J-just try to sit and calm down for a second." Alphys told her.

Undyne took her advice and sat down on the floor against the wall to take a breather.

"I'll be right back." Alphys said, as she walked off to get a glass of water, coming back about minutes later and handing it to Undyne, who thanked her, seeming to be slightly calmer now.

"Now, the key to dealing with a self-harmer is having patience and understanding."

"But how much patience can I have? He only has one HP...!"

" _O-one HP_?!" Alphys herself was compleltely shocked at hearing that, but, upon seeing that, her reaction worried Undyne as well, she had to compose herself again.

"It's almost like something...traumatic... wiped the majority of his HP..." Alphys thought aloud, wrapping a finger around her chin. "Did you try talking to him about what was causing him to hurt himself?"

"Not really... We were around other people when I found out, so I didn't want to put too much pressure on him."

"I see..."

"What have I done, Alphys...?"

"I d-don't know, Undyne..." Alphys mumbled, reaching down andp putting a hand over one of Undyne's. "but we'll f-figure it out together, okay...?"

Undyne looked up at her, giving a small smile, before giving her hand a small squeeze back. "Yeah, thanks, Alphys."

She looked down at the glass of water, her smile fading. "You probably want to know who's self-harming, don't you?"

"W-well news spreads fast in the Underground, so I'll probably hear something about it eventually anyway, in the case that somebody overheard." Alphys said.

"Good point... And It's... Sans." Undyne muttered.

"Sans has been...?" Alphys was sure she had heard wrong. Sans, the couldn't-care-less-jokester of the Underground, had been hurting himself? There was no way. She was speechless for a second, before speaking again. "So... Papyrus knows, then?"

"...Yeah, I let him know. I imagine he confronted Sans on it. But I don't... know how that turned out." Thinking about it, she found herself growing worried for both Sans and Papyrus. Sans, being as stubborn as he was about letting people in may have said or done something irrational, and Papyrus could have been hurt. Even if Papyrus was able to deal with Sans better than most, it didn't mean that Sans was ever completely honest or open with him.

"Alphys, can I use your phone?" She asked.

"S-sure. Gonna call him?" Alphys nodded handing her cellphone to her.

"Yeah." Undyne nodded in response, taking the phone.

"Oh, it has a voice automated caller. Just say to call him and it will call him." Alphys told her about her little experiment.

"That's neat. Call Papyrus." She stated. And sure enough, to her surprise, did exactly that.

However, Undyne was surprised that it took several rings for Papyrus to pick up, even though he usually picked up on the first ring.

"...Un...dyne?" Papyrus answered on the other side of the line.

"Papyrus? Did something happen?" Undyne inquired in response. He sounded incredibly upset.

"I... Sans... he teleported away, and I don't know where... Please help me find him, Undyne...!" Papyrus cried out loud. Undyne felt her anxiety rising in worry.

"Alright, Papyrus," Undyne felt herself hesitate for a second, before forcing herself to keep a control on her emotions. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm in Snowdin." Papyrus replied.

"Just keep searching for him, and I'll meet up with you in no more than just a few minutes." Undyne told him.

"Alright..." Undyne could tell, in his tone alone, that Papyrus probably was more upset and worried than any of them, there was no telling what he had just been through with Sans, but that was something that needed be discussed later. Right now, they needed to find Sans.

Upon hanging up, Undyne couldn't stop the question from rolling in her head.

 _"Sans... What have you done...?"_

She wasn't mad at him, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't frustrated that Sans had upset and worried Papyrus like this.

"You know... I d-do have cameras set up around most of the underground..." Alphys suddenly offered. "I might be able to find Sans through that."

Undyne looked at her in surprise before smiling.

"Alphys, you're a genius!" She exclaimed, shaking Alphys by her shoulder a bit.

At hearing the compliment, Alphys blushed. "I-I am?"

"Yes, you are! I would appreciate it so much if you helped us find him."

"Alright, just give me a second." Alphys said, going over to her computer, followed by Undyne.

 _\- End of Chapter 4 Part 1_

 _ **A/N: Again, sorry I haven't been updating lately, and that this wasn't much, but I hope it was okay.**_


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